The song titles suggest silliness right away; Belly Button is a catchy ballad singing praises to belly buttons, and even suggesting a Belly Button Day! The Nose song is an upbeat tune all about how much the singer loves her nose - she even wishes she had two! A Duck in New York City has the big band sound. Slug Opera uses a silly voice to imitate what a slug (supposedly) sounds like. The opera tune breaks down into a boogy-woogy in the middle, sure to get your child moving. If You Love a Hippopotamus is sure to be a quick favorite, as children sing along and even make up a word to complete the rhyme, "And you love her a lot-amus." Seed in the Ground is one of the fewer slower, mellow songs on the CD, displaying a pretty harmony not heard in the other songs.
Some of the songs tells stories, or involve tasks that you can talk with your child about, such as eating tomatoes. Even though the song presents its message in a funny manner (naming crazy tomato concoctions like tomato milkshakes and tomato-flavored toothpaste), the idea of making tomatoes fun for kids is great! Can you get your little one to try a tomato after hearing the song? I Want to be a Cloud is a great imagination stoker; the song names all kinds of fun things to change in to if you were a cloud - a tricycle, hamburger, spaceship, or a diamond ring! What sorts of images would your child want to turn in to if they were a cloud? Perhaps your child just wants to boogy down and sing along. In that case, they can easily join in the fun lyrics in The Alligator Waltz, like "La-la-la-la hmmmmmmm" and "hoochy kootchy kootchy koo", or they could practice whistling along with Belly Button. Honey, Honey, Honey is set up like a campfire song, with no instruments, and it is perfect for singing along. Children can join in right away, as "Honey" is the only word in the chorus. The singer even makes funny voices for the bee and bear, adding to the fun. There is a clever twist to the end of this song, but I won't give it away here.
My three-year-old friend, Sam, liked Belly Button and Laundry Bag the most. He laughed so hard when he heard "party pants" and "smarty pants" mentioned as a type of clothing in the landry bag! I asked him what pants he was wearing, and looked down at his jeans, thought for a minute, and then proudly stated, "There are my big boy pants!"
--Audra